As much as I understand how some bands and song writers like to stay in one certain genre and try to create different versions of the same music they have been creating for years, for me I would like to catch someone off guard before the song goes. I wouldn’t want to listen and anticipate what happens next, that doesn’t sound interesting to me at all. Do you agree that you fit into a self defined genre in a way? You know, as a song writer, I wouldn’t ever want someone to listen to 30 seconds to one of our songs and then say “oh ok, I get it” and then just turn away. I know that sounds all very dramatic but I am a song writer and a dramatic guy! You push the boundaries of genre. A lot of the time, the music can inspire the lyrics depending on what the music is saying. I’m mostly inspired by chord progression and song structure and the lyrics kind of come after that. But, sometimes I also like to write poetry a lot so I’ll create a song musically and then fit the poetry with that. I usually make the music first because now I have a small studio in my basement where I can lay down my thoughts musically when it comes the progression and then I usually come up with a melody and then fit the lyrics to that song. So, do you write your lyrics before you start the music, or vice versa? That’s a very good question. So, I was very drawn to creating my own songs right away and I started writing right off the bat and trying to get better at it ever since. And one of the first songs I ever played on the piano was my own.
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I gathered a basic understanding of the keyboard and the piano. Then I became addicted to it, figuring out chords on my own and realising that this little key here and this one here, I press them at the same time and they sound good together. Then one year, I decided to pull it out and experiment with it and figure out if I could play it just for fun.
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How did you start out as a band? I never really had lessons but my mum got me a keyboard for Christmas when I was younger and because I was much more interested in athletics and sports I just put that keyboard in the closet.
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Front man, Tyler Joseph, talks to The National Student about working with his bandmate Josh Dun, how embracing technology has revolutionised music and why a songwriter can never been too much of a drama queen. Beginning their muscial experimentations in a basement studio, twenty one pilots have shaken the creation of music well and truly to its core.